


/ 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



,Gtf 93 



A MEMORIAL 



TO THE 



^^e^ei^t^ of tl\elJr\ivef^ity 



OF THE STATE OF lO'WA, 



THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



Of the Board of Trustees of Griswold College. 



DAVENPORT, IOWA. 



DAVENPORT, IOWA. 
GLOBE PRINTING COMPANY, 

1877. 



t^l 



^ 



0^1 



.Gr-^^ 



To the Honorable the Board of Regents of the University 
of the State of Iowa : 



Gentlemen : At a late meeting 
of the Board of Trustees of Griswold 
College, held in the City of Daven- 
port, the following resolutions were 
unanimously adopted, to wit : 

Resolved, That the Executive Commit- 
tee be authorized and instructed to memo- 
rialize the Board of Regents of the Uni- 
versity of the State of Iowa, to take such 
action, after mutual conference and agree- 
ment with the said Executive Committee, 
— the said action to be finally approved by 
this Board, whereby on the graduation 
of students in Arts and Science in Gris- 
wold College, the degree of A. B. or B. S. 
shall be conferred on the terms established 
by the University Professors, and only af- 
ter examinations, written or oral, conduct- 
ed by, or in accordance with the instruc- 
tions of, the said University Faculty, em- 
powered to confer the said degrees ; it be- 
ing understood and stipulated that the 
said degrees, when thus conferred, shall be 
given by the University over and above 
their bestowal by Griswold College. 

I?esolved, That in this effort to secure 
affiliation with the University of the State, 
the Board of Trustees of Griswold College 
pledge themselves, on re-opening the Col- 
lege committed to their charge, to provide 
such a course of instruction, and to give 
evidence of such sympathy with the high- 
est education, as to render this affiliation 
a proof of the interest of the said Trus- 
tees and the Church they represent, in the 
advance of education and culture through- 
out the State, to their highest possible de- 
velopment. 

In compliance with these instruc- 
tions and heartily endorsing and se- 



conding their intent, the Executive 
Committee would respectfully ask of 
the Regents of the University that 
kind consideration of their proposi- 
tion which the importance of the sub- 
ject at issue certainly demands. 

The existence within the State of 
eighteen so-called Universities or Col- 
leges, largely denominational in their 
origin and constituency, with varying 
standards of scholarship and each 
and all alike possessing the degree- 
giving power, cannot but render all 
efforts for the establishment of a uni- 
form and high standard of educational 
attainment as contemplated by the 
University practically inoperative. 
Too often the degree will be sought 
where it can most readily be obtained. 
The exaction of a high standard of 
attainment, as a prerequisite to grad- 
uation by the University, can and will 
at present affect only those who from 
love of study and free from the in- 
fluence of denominational prejudice 
personally attend the University and 
avail themselves of its superior priv- 
ileges. Could the University be mul- 
tiplied and its advantages be offered 
at each of the many educational 
centres now existing w^ithin the 
State, it would certainly be product- 
ive of far greater good than is novi^ 
possible. Is it not practicable to se- 
cure such a result? It is not essential 



A MEMORIAL 






to the idea of a State University that 
its instructions should be given, and 
its curriculum maintained, in any 
particular place. The University of 
the State of New York, for example, 
has neither buildings nor Instructors, 
yet, by availing itself of the various 
Colleges, established under local or 
denominational influences in the 
State, it maintains a high and uniform 
standard of scholarship throughout 
the State ; and, year by year, in the 
annual repoi'ts of its regents, contri- 
butes in a marked degree to the edu- 
cational advance of the land.* The 
ancient Universities of Oxford and 
Cambridge, not content with gather- 
ing their students in centres which 
have been hallowed by the pre- 
sence and toil of scholars for near- 
ly a thousand years, are seeking 
to establish all over the United King- 
dom educational centres under their 
control where the same instruction in 
whole or in part will be given and 
the University degrees, at least in great 
part, earned. The fact of the exist- 
ence of these scattered and often rival 
educational institutions being admit- 
ted, the question for our American 
educators seems to be : Can there be 
attained by their united and uniform 
efforts the grand result which the 
State University is felt and known to 
have in view .^ Can steps be taken 
whereby a degree from each and 
every College in Iowa shall represent 
a certain and well defined amount of 

* " The University of the State of New York 
though generally regarded as a Legal Fiction, is, 
in truth, a grand reality The numerous institutions 
of which it is composed are indeed not, as in Eng- 
land, crowded into a single city, but are scattered, 
for popular convenience over the entire State." — P. 
532, Report of Regents for 1875 



attainment in learning and letters, 
and the standard of the State Uni- 
versity be thus maintained through- 
out the State } 

Your Memorialists respectfully 
submit that they believe this result to 
be both ossible and eminently de- 
sirable. With a view to bring about 
this result they respectfully propose 
in the reopening of the College un- 
der their charge, which will take 
place the present year, to surren- 
der the exercise of their power of 
granting the degrees of B. A. and 
B. S., i. e. : the graduating de- 
grees, save on terms to be deter- 
mined by the Faculty of the State 
University and after Examinations, 
conducted either by representatives 
of the said Faculty of the State Uni- 
versity in person, or in such strict 
accordance w^ith their requirements 
as to meet fully and without any re- 
servation the prerequisite standard of 
the University. And they ask of the 
Regents that upon the Students of 
Griswold College who shall, after ex- 
aminations conducted as aforesaid, 
fulfil these requirements, as prescrib- 
ed by the Faculty of the University, for 
graduation either in Arts or Science, 
there shall be given by the Authori- 
ties of the University the degree to 
which they have proved themselves 
entitled. To eflfect this result, as will 
be seen at a glance, a course of study 
and a standard of instruction must be 
maintained at Griswold College equi- 
valent to that offered at the Universi- 
ty. Practically therefore it will be 
the addition to the State University, 
and in closest affiliation with it, of a 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



A MEMORIAL 



well-officered and thoroughly efficient 
co-worker in the educational field. 

There can be little hazard in grant- 
ing so simple a request. If the grad- 
uates of Griswold College are not 
able to pass the Examinations pre- 
scribed by the State University they 
will fail to receive a graduating de- 
gree. If they are able to pass these 
examinations they are unquestionably 
entitled to that recognition of their 
attainments on the part of the State, 
they would secure if, in place of a 
course of study at Griswold College, 
they had taken a similar course at 
Iowa City. "Griswold" would sus- 
tain the relation to the University that 
"Baliol" or " Brasenose" or "Christ 
Church" Colleges at Oxford, and " St. 
John's " and " Trinity " at Cambridge, 
do to their respective Universities. It 
would prepare its men for the Uni- 
versity examinations and would be 
at pains to do it well. Its teaching, 
and the application and success of its 
students would be ever on trial be- 
fore an impartial tribunal. It would 
attest its hearty interest in the work 
. of thorough education by courting the 
fullest scrutiny and by claiming no- 
thing which it did not fairly earn. 

Nor would this step be without re- 
sults in inciting a generous emulation 
among other local and denomination- 
al colleges throughout the State to 
reach the same standard of educa- 
tion and thus secure similar terms from 
the State University. Our State sys- 
tem of education would soon com- 
prise all the educational institutions 
that were capable of imparting an 
instruction worth the seeking. 



029 927 011 7 4f\ 

The details of this plan may safel}^ 
be left for further consideration if the 
general outlines of this scheme of 
affiliation with the State educational 
system are approved. The Execu- 
tive Committee of the Board of Trus- 
tees of Griswold College, in present- 
ing this memorial, respectfully beg 
this general approval of their propo- 
sition, and the appointment of a com- 
mittee on the part of the Regents to 
which, in connection with a commit- 
tee of their own body, the perfecting 
of this scheme shall be entrusted. 

With the most unfeigned respect 
for the Honorable Board to which 
they present this, their unanimous pe- 
tition, your memorialists beg to sub- 
scribe themselves, 

Respectfully, 
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

of the Board of Trustees 
of Grisiuold College by 

William Stevens Perry, 

Bislwp of Iowa and President of the Board. 



EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES. 

At a meeting of the Executive 
Committee of the Board of Trustees 
of Griswold College, on motion, it 
was unanimously 

Resolved, That the Memorial to the Re- 
gents of the University of the State of 
Iowa, presented by the President of the 
Board, be and is hereby adopted, and that 
the President be appointed a Committee 
of the Executive Committee to present the 
same to the Regents of the University. 

Attest : William Stevens Perry, 

President of the Board, 



HoUir 
P 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

029 927 Oil 7 




